🕃 Our Venerable Father Hilarion the Great.
Saint with Six Stichera.
Colossians 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:44-50.
Read Colossians 3:17-4:1
St. Paul gives very direct and practical instructions about how we should live and treat one another. He addresses wives and husbands, children and parents, slaves and masters. Although their roles and responsibilities differ, the underlying message is the same: whatever you do, do it faithfully, as though you were doing it for the Lord.
St. Paul says, “Whatever you do, do from the heart, as for the Lord and not for others” (Col 3:23).
This teaching applies directly to our daily lives. We are parents, children, coworkers, supervisors, neighbors, and friends. Each day brings responsibilities and opportunities to serve others. Sometimes our efforts go unnoticed or unappreciated. Yet even the most ordinary tasks can become acts of love and service before God.
In the Byzantine Christian tradition, we speak of theosis, our gradual transformation into the likeness of God through divine grace. This transformation does not happen only in church or during prayer. It also happens in our homes, workplaces, and daily encounters, whenever we choose patience over anger, forgiveness over resentment, and love over selfishness.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, through his Daily Examen, encourages us to recognize God’s presence throughout our day and every day. Imagine how differently we would treat one another if we remembered and acknowledged that we are always in God’s presence!
St. Teresa of Calcutta expressed this beautifully: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
Ultimately, it is not only what we do that matters, but also how and why we do it. As Scripture reminds us, “the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
Let us therefore fulfill our daily responsibilities wholeheartedly, remembering that through our love and service to one another, we are also serving Christ.